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The Sims 2
Price: $39.99 Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Amazon Minimum Age: 144 months
Binding: CD-ROM
Brand: Electronic Arts
EAN: 0014633147261
ESRB Age Rating: Teen
Item Dimensions: 100
Label: Electronic Arts
Manufacturer: Electronic Arts
Model: EA9965814
MPN: 14726
Number Of Items: 1
Platform: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date: September 14, 2004
Studio: Electronic Arts
Features:- Sequel to the hit lifestyle simulation
- Manage your Sim's dreams and fears over a lifetime
- Mix Sim genes and see physical and personality traits inherited down through Sim generations
- Movie-making feature lets you control the camera and capture the action into mini movies
- Also available in DVD Edition
Accessories:
Related Items: Featured Listmania!
Editorial Review:
The Sims was one of the most popular games ever made. In it, players micromanage the lives of a family of virtual people, or Sims, and influence their paths toward success or something akin to a nervous breakdown. Its open-ended blend of cartoonish behavior and everyday living is unique in an art form otherwise obsessed with carnage and sports. With The Sims 2, long-time fans now have a deeper game with lots of ways to customize and share their experiences. The game will also attract first-timers because the goal-oriented gameplay and the luridly fun starter families make it easier to get into the action right out of the box.
Now Sims are born with the traits of their parents, families grow, and Sims grow old.
| The People in Your Neighborhood
The game starts at the neighborhood level. Here you can create a housing development from scratch or start with one of three premade neighborhoods, each with its own theme. From there, you'll settle on a house and a family of Sims to control.
 | | Create your own Sim (above) or your own house (below) from scratch with advanced tools. |  | Aside from the basic needs carried over from the previous game, Sims now have aspirations, wants, and fears. The wants and fears are the day-to-day things that occupy their minds, like wanting to see friends or get married and fearing death or being rejected for a kiss. Satisfy their wants, and they become more efficient at completing tasks you assign them. Realize their fears, and Sims become lethargic, cranky, and unresponsive to your commands. Aspirations are the big-picture things, like raising a family, becoming wealthy, and gaining knowledge. Succeed here and you'll be able to buy odd gifts for your Sim to improve his or her life, like a money tree that pays dividends or a "fountain of youth" water cooler.
What Else Is New? Of course, you wouldn't be able to juggle all that if it weren't for the improved "Free Will" option, which makes it easier for Sims to fulfill their basic needs. The artificial intelligence of the game is noticeably improved; they won't turn on radios just as a family member is going to bed but, strangely, they do occasionally put their dishes on the floor.
Another big change in the series is the concept of the lifespan. Now Sims are born with the traits of their parents, families grow, and Sims grow old. Not only does this go hand in hand with aspirations (growing up is the first aspiration that a baby Sim will have), it provides a limited time with which your Sims can achieve their goals.
 | | The Universal Control Panel helps you manage your Sim family. | A Family Affair
The Sims 2 not only lets you create just about any type of Sim in any type of family, build elaborate houses, and even create a neighborhood from scratch, but it also allows you to start the game in medias res, with premade households. These families all have backstories that are smart spoofs of soap-opera plots--lots of scheming, romance, ghosts, and family fighting. Parents of teens shouldn't worry, though, because nudity is tastefully blurred out and "woo-hoo" between Sims takes place completely under the covers. The ESRB has given this a Teen rating. If The Sims 2 were a film, it would likely land between PG and PG-13.
The makers have included some nice tools to help share the universe you've created. For example, you can capture in-game stills and video to show friends the private moments, family interactions, and house parties of your Sims. You can even package a household to share as a blog or an album on a special Web site.
The Sims 2 is for patient gamers. Like life itself, the game is filled with mundane details, like getting ready for work and doing dishes. The game also demands a level of creativity from its players that the run-and-gun game genres wouldn't know what to do with. But those who stick with it will be rewarded with an absorbing, amusing diversion and a virtual family history that they've created themselves. --Porter B. Hall
Set Up a Sims 2 Machinima Studio
 Amazon.com contributor Porter Hall reveals how you can make movies using the Sims as your actors. See his guide to setting up a Sims 2 Machinima Studio.
The Sims 2 is an incredible sequel to the best-selling PC game of all-time! You'll get to direct an entire Sims' lifetime, and try to get them to reach their goals in life. Will they have a long, successful and happy life - or will they end up poor and heartbroken?
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - LOVE THIS GAME!
I absouletely love the sims 2! Even though it is much better with the expansion packs it is so much fun to play...I'm really into life simulating and stuff like I always just played with my dolls and stuff when I was younger so this is extremely awesome! There are some downfalls but the good things over weigh them!
Rating: - A GREAT game, and it NEVER ends!
OK. I got this game in the middle of 2007 summer, and i have had it half a year now. I have gotton two expansions, and i am hooked. This is the #1 gamethat i play! There are only a few downs.
CONS
1 It takes forever to install (who cares, it will pay off) -1/2 star
2 It might get boaring to some for a couplem days, then you are hooked again. -1/2 star
PROS
1 You can make the sims look as freaky as you want, and no-one will say a thing! (though I do ... Read More
Rating: - I LOVE my Simmies people!!!!
I love this game. The idea of the game is to create a person-a man or a woman-young or old- that may or may not have a family-you decide-you choose what they look like, how clean, how active, how nice, how serious, etc.. they are. You decide what they look like and what they will wear for everyday, pjs, swimwear and formal.
You decide if they'll have a family and how many will be in the family. You decide if they will be pretty or ugly, their likes, their dislikes and their aspirations.
Read More
Rating: - Much, much better than the original
I bought the Sims 2 Deluxe version in July and after almost three months of consistent gameplay, I'm ready to review.
I had the original Sims and it was a blast. I loved being able to control what my little people did, how they interacted with each other and little things like whether or not they went to work that day or when they went to the bathroom. The Sims 2 gives you all of that plus more - now not only can you control your little Sims, you can marry them off to Townies or NPCS, ... Read More
Rating:  - Sims 2 for windows
While Sims 2 is very popular among teens and "tweens," it does not operate well on PC's built before Vista. (Note, Sims 2 does NOT require Vista to run.) However, because Sims 2 pans 360-degrees (and therefore requires a lot of pixels) it does require at least 1 megabyte or more of RAM. Otherwise, it is subject to frequent "freeze-ups" and "crashes." The registration process for Sims 2 is cumbersome, but I don't think you can get the cheat codes without it. My daughter loves Sims 2, but it is very ... Read More
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